Cassandra's Story
by Julianna Edwards
Summary: When a young Irish girl get's a letter from Hogwarts she doesn't want to leave home. Yet it is her destiny, as well as Harry Potter's, to save both the muggle and wizard worlds.
1. Her First Surprise

A/n: First of all, I want to say that **all** places and characters, except Cassandra, her family, Shanria (both the kitten and historical figure), and all other names you don't recognize, were made-up and are copyrighted by J.K. Rowling (at whatever dates, I'm not sure of). Second of all, I want to say I've worked very hard on this chapter (writing flashbacks aren't exactly my specialty), but I think it turned out okay. Anyway this was, well not my first HP fic posted, my first one that I wrote.

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Chapter 1

Her First Surprise:

It was a hot, spring day, although Cassandra thought it felt more like summer. She didn't really mind summer weather though. It meant she could play outside with Shanria. Shanria was Cassandra's new kitten. Her dad had given it to her for her birthday. Cassandra laughed when she remembered waking up to her kitten's face. She had sat straight throwing Shanria of her chest. Then, seeing it was a kitten, Cassandra had picked it up to look at it. Then she gasped. At first glance Cassandra had thought the kitten was gray, but now she saw that it was silver. She quickly got over her surprise though, when she saw a card sitting on her window sill. She set the kitten down and picked up the card. 

She opened it up and read, "Dear Cassandra, I hope you like your new kitten. I saw her in rather an unusual pet store and, since eleven is such an unusual age (especially for you), I thought you deserved to have such an unusual pet. Aside from all that, she might come in handy to you. You can name her whatever you want. Hope you like her. Happy Birthday!!!! Love, Your father," 

Remembering her father's letter Cassandra's face frowned as she again wondered what exactly her father meant by "unusual". Her frown turned suddenly to a laugh as Shanria pounced on a grasshopper only to have it jump out of her paws.

"She certainly suits her name," Cassandra thought, "Her name.....". She again thought back to this morning. She had tried to come up with a name while getting dressed, but she hadn't been able to think of one that her "unusual" golden-eyed kitten. She mentioned this to her dad after she had gone downstairs for breakfast. Her dad had casually mentioned the name Shanria. Cassandra was startled at the name. When she had been younger, Shanria had been the name of the heroine in the stories her dad had told her. Cassandra had once asked her dad where he had gotten the stories from. He had only said they were from a very special book. Cassandra got over her surprise and looked at her kitten. She was exploring over the whole entire kitchen, looking into every corner. 

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"Just like Shanria in the stories would do," she thought and turned to her dad.

"Shanria's a perfect name," she stated with such finality that she surprised even herself. Her mother looked startled, too. Cassandra was usually very shy and unsure of herself, but her dad only smiled at her.

Cassandra suddenly blinked and there was Shanria looking at her as if to say, "Well finally! I thought you were going to day dream all day!" Cassandra smiled and started to pet her kitten. She looked around herself and sighed contentedly. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 

"I love Ireland," she thought to herself. 


	2. The Letter

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A/n: The second chapter to Cassandra's Story. I'm open to ideas on better titles.

Chapter 2

The Letter

The rest of her birthday had gone smoothly. It was only her immediate family though. Janet and Shana, her best friends, had both gone on vacation. Cassandra didn't mind though.

"It was almost nicer," she thought, "with just family here." After her special birthday lunch her dad asked her to get the mail.

"There might be a surprise in it," he said. Thinking it was another birthday present she ran to get it. Then she came back to the kitchen, searching fiercely for the surprise.

"Hey," she said, "There's only this thick letter."

"Well, open it," her older sister, Leslie, said impatiently. Cassandra did. She started reading and couldn't believe it. 

Cassandra put it down and, laughing, said," This is impossible."

"No, Cassandra," her dad said steadily, it's not." Cassandra looked at her dad with surprise and then with accusation.

"You knew," she said, "You went to that school didn't you?" Cassandra went on without waiting for an answer.

"You knew I was a wizard and you never told me?" she screamed. Crying she ran up to room. She could hear her mom shouting questions at her dad.

"Good," Cassandra thought,"Let her be as surprised as I am!" With that, Cassandra threw herself on to her bed and let her crying take over.


	3. Hogwarts, Wizardry, and an Explanation

A/n: The next part. Okay, because I have not included this in any of my other stories, except this one, everything you recognize from the books written by J.K. Rowling is not mine in any of my stories. This goes for each and every one of them.

Chapter 3

Hogwarts, Wizardry, and an Explanation

A little while later Cassandra lifted her head up to the sound of someone knocking at the door. 

She wiped her eyes as she heard, "Cassie, honey, can I come in?" her dad asked. Cassandra didn't really want him to come in, but she couldn't really think of a good reason not to let him in.

"Fine," she said reluctantly and her father came in looking a little nervous.

"Cassie-" he started but Cassandra interrupted him.

"I assume you have a good reason for not telling me?" Cassandra asked coldly, glaring at him. Her father winced and continued.

"Well I didn't want to get your hopes up. I knew you were going to be a wizard. You know all those weird things that have always happened to you?" Cassandra nodded, and her father continued, "Well, the reason you never got in trouble for them is because I knew they were signs of wizardry and that you really didn't mean to them. I just didn't want to tell you that you were going to be a wizard because Leslie isn't one. I also didn't want to make you think that you would definitely go to Hogwarts, it's really the best school you know, just because I went there. I also didn't want to alarm you're your mother."

"She was angry anyway," Cassie said quietly.

"Yes," her father nodded, "That was my mistake. A nasty surprise for her, finding out this way. Especially when I told her I didn't work for the newspaper she thought I did."

"You mean you don't work for a newspaper?" Cassandra asked confused.

"Oh, I work for a newspaper," her father assured her, "just not a muggle one."

"A muggle what?" Cassie asked even more confused.

"Newspaper," her father said and then added, "Oh, you mean, what's a muggle?" Cassandra nodded.

"Well, a muggle is the wizard word for a person with no magic. Your mother's a muggle, and so is Leslie."

"What about John?" she asked suddenly.

"I'm not sure about your little brother. He shows some signs but I don't know. Of course," he added, "he's only seven. Oh, that reminds me. We can't tell him. I've already explained the situation to your mother and Leslie, but, for the same reasons I couldn't tell you, we can not tell John. Do you understand?" he asked, and Cassandra knew he wasn't just talking about John.

"Uh-huh," Cassandra replied, "there's a whole world I don't know anything about even though I'm part of it. Right?"

"Exactly. Things like how your kitten came from a wizard pet store, how to get into Diagon Alley, and-" 

"Shanria's from a wizard pet store?" Cassandra interrupted and then went on without waiting for an answer.

"I should have known. A silver kitten isn't exactly something you'd find in a, what did you call it Dad? Oh yeah, muggle. Anyway, a silver kitten isn't exactly something you'd find in a muggle pet store, is it?" Her father shook his head in agreement looking pleased that she'd used the word "muggle".

"Anyway," he continued, "you still have all summer to learn all about the wizarding world before you start Hogwarts. I'll start teaching you right now."

A/N: Okay, the next part. Sorry it hasn't been up sooner. Anyway, I'm trying to update most of my stories because I'm going on vacation starting today. So don't expect any updates until Saturday. Also, I was reading some of my fics that are already uploaded and I realized I've made a lot of mistakes. Since I'm obviously not catching them, I'm looking for someone who's willing to deal with me and read over my stories before I post them. If anyone's willing please e-mail me. 


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